Iranian hardliner says Islam at heart of Arab protests

"The uprising of the Arab nations is an Islamic movement and the west is trying
to downplay the Islamic content of these protests," Iranian hardline cleric told
worshippers at Tehran's Friday Mass Prayers.

Tehran daily Kayhan featuring protests in Egypt - Iran's
state TV has also provided extensive coverage of the protests in
Egypt, saying President Hosni Mubarak won't have a fate better than
that of the deposed Iranian shah.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said: "31 years after the victory of the Islamic
republic, we are faced with the obvious fact that these movements are the after
shocks of the Islamic Revolution."

"The fate of those who challenge religion is destruction;" he added.

Ahmad Khatami told worshippers that the former Tunisian president, Ben Ali had
forbidden Friday Mass Prayers and given rise to torture in the prisons. "These
are exactly the events that took place at the time of the Shah," the Iranian
hardliner said referring to the last Iranian monarch who was ousted in 1979
before the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran.

"They want to highlight the labor, liberal and democratic issues but the most
important issue which is the religious streak of these protests are being
denied," Kahtami insisted.

He added: "To all those who refuse to acknowledge the truth, I say the Islamic
Middle East orbiting around Islam, religion and religious democracy is taking
shape."

In recent weeks, widespread protests have rocked several Arab nations starting
with Tunisia where President Zeinalabdine Ben Ali was toppled from power.
Protests in Egypt, Algeria and Yemen have followed in the footsteps of Tunisians
calling for change in the political make up of their respective countries.

Islamic Republic establishment has been quick in taking ownership of these
movements and insisting the protests are religious in nature.